Painful (Warriors 101, Wizards 92)

How poorly is the Warriors’ bench playing at the moment? The box score tells part of the story. With the exception of Jack, the bench went 0-8 with 1 assist in a combined 45 minutes. But the real measure of how poorly they played is the degree to which they sucked the joy and energy out of what should have been an easy win. All 5 Warriors starters had an outstanding first half. Curry looked like he was on pace to another special night — knocking down shot after shot while getting his teammates (Bogut, in particular) engaged in the offense. But then Jackson went with five bench players to start the fourth quarter, and everything fell apart. Curry checked back in to help stop the freefall — and ended up falling himself, on another crumpled ankle. Hopefully the sprain is minor, but the lack of depth that indirectly contributed to the injury makes any potential missed time by Curry that much worse. The Warriors escaped with a 101-92 win, but it was a demoralizing once.

This game was a tale of two line-ups. I can’t say enough good things about the first one — the starting five — and can’t hit the panic button hard enough for the second one — the bench. If Curry misses time and Jack moves into the starting line-up, the reserves may never score a basket again. Landry has regressed to nothing but jump shots. Green and Ezeli are hopeless as usual at the offense end. Bazemore is streaky, and deferring to others when he needs to be more assertive. Either Jackson will have to play Jack 48 minutes, give Thompson a run at point with the reserves or try Bazemore at point with Jefferson at three. All ugly options, particularly against teams with any sort of defensive presence. The Warriors are having a hard enough time avoiding turnovers with Curry and Jack handling the ball. A non-point guard running the offense could be disastrous.

As ugly as the fourth quarter was, it shouldn’t overshadow completely what the Warriors did in the first half. This was what I envisioned when the Warriors traded for Andrew Bogut.

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Curry ran the show, pushing the ball and making some spectacular passes on the break. The game in the first half had the special feel of his New York explosion, when everyone expected him to make every shot, no matter how difficult. The team worked hard to get him additional looks, with mixed success (a few were waved off for illegal screens). Given the blowout-in-the-making status when he left in the third, it’s unlikely he would have made it to 50, but he was the best player on the floor by a wide margin. He’s playing with a visible edge and intensity which seems to spark his teammates. All of this makes his loss — if only for a game or two — all the more damaging.

Thompson served as a safety valve for the offense, knocking down threes, but also went strong to the rim and played excellent defense on John Wall. Wall’s jawing at Thompson when he already had one technical was an act of supreme boneheadedness, but credit Thompson for frustrating Wall with his consistent, physical defense. The hard foul that upset Wall was a gritty play that good teams make all the time. Overall, it was the type of performance the Warriors will need from their sophomore to have any chance in the playoffs.

Barnes went to the rim on several nice drives, but also hit some deeper and mid-range shots. It’s no accident that Barnes (along with Jack) lead the team in free throw attempts. He’s starting to use his driving ability to get defenders off balance and draw fouls even when there’s not a clear path to the basket. If he can make those moves regularly, it’ll be a nice addition to his offensive array. The additional work on the glass was also good to see, after a drop off recently.

Lee’s offense was largely unneeded during the first half, but he contributed both on defense and on the glass. He stayed home on his man more frequently and made a few nice one-on-one defensive stands resulting in misses. Okafor and Nene aren’t Duncan, but they’ve both torched the Warriors in past match-ups. The Warriors will need Lee to shoulder more of the scoring load if Curry misses any considerable time, but hopefully the extra attention to his defensive game won’t disappear.

Bogut was at the beginning and end of some of the starters’ best plays. His interior defense against the Wizards was excellent — denying penetration for their guards and easy baskets for their big men (Nene and Okafor shot a combined 6-16). He took charges, poked rebounds to teammates and was generally active at the defensive end. The new addition to Bogut’s game was his speed on the offensive end. He snuck out on one break to receive a beautiful Curry alley-oop. He worked the backdoor for a couple of other decisive slams. He looked as fluid and mobile as I’ve seen him on the Warriors. Of course, given Warriors’ luck, he also took multiple spills in the second half that left him limping and rubbing his elbow. It remains to be seen if they have any lasting impact, but any injury suffered by Bogut against the Wizards would be the proverbial insult to Curry’s ankle twist.

The unsettling conclusion based on the fourth quarter and similarly futile runs from the bench lately is that Jackson may have no choice but to run his starters into the ground. Until someone other than Jack produces something on offense, Jackson simply can’t afford to keep Curry, Thompson and/or Lee off the court for considerable stretches. Jackson has experimented with mixing Barnes with the reserves, but Barnes’ lack of assertiveness limits the line-up’s effectiveness no matter how good the substitution might be in theory.

Ultimately, Jackson is left with a race against time and luck. Can Curry, Lee and Thompson continue to log 38-42 minutes a night and have anything left for the first round of the playoffs? Can Curry’s and Bogut’s bodies handle the abuse and increased chance of freak accidents (like the ones that banged up both players on Saturday)? I get sinking feelings on both questions, meaning Jackson’s best option may be the white-knuckle one — against lesser opponents like the Wizards, give the bench continued minutes to hopefully find something that works. They may come close to losing some games against lesser teams — like this one — but they’ll need to be productive for the Warriors to have a shot at winning against better teams.

Adam Lauridsen

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W’s offense ground to a halt in the 4th because they too repetitively iso-ed D’Antoni’s smallball lineup — and became stagnant in the halfcourt — instead of continuing to push tempo and run motion offense (while being more judicious in picking their spots to iso-)

But obviously an important win notwithstanding the above.

Jackson found an 8-man rotation tonight. He’ll need to find/cultivate a 9th guy. You need to go 8 1/2 deep in the playoffs. Should the 9th guy still be Green? Or Jefferson? Or Bazemore?

It will be intriguing to watch.

Obviously, Jackson can just pick-and-choose among the three situationally. But I’d be interested in seeing him prioritize and work on integrating a decisive 9th man. (That would build the most chemistry — while still leaving Jackson free to change things up situationally when particular needs arise.)

Chris L, I got the feeling that MJ was telling Curry to slow it down in the 4th quarter stretch in an effort to use up the clock and reduce the number of possessions available to the Lakers. Risky strategy as the offense became very static, as you say, and the Dubs found themselves having to settle for contested jumpers.

Re the 9th man, my pick is Bazemore. Green’s offense has regressed from bad to appalling, he gives away too many senseless fouls, and generally looks less comfortable and composed on the court. Jefferson also seems to have regressed offensively but that might be a consequence of his minutes being so limited for an extended period. His vet experience is a possible plus. Bazemore brings instant energy and has added offensive efficiency to his defensive presence – his post-all star game FG% has been .52 (.375 from 3-point range). He also shows some ball handling and passing ability.